I know Philip Kerr from his children’s novels and didn’t realize he wrote stories for adults. While searching for another book, I came upon his Dark Matter, a novel written in 2002 and it immediately caught my attention. It’s 1696 and Christopher Ellis has just taken on a job assisting Sir Isaac Newton at the Royal Mint. As Warden, it’s Newton’s job to hunt down counterfeiters. A challenging enough job but when mysterious murders start happening, Ellis plays Watson to Newton as an earlier version of Sherlock Holmes. Clues and body counts rise as Ellis and Newton face personal danger in the politically volatile back streets of London. Throw in a mix of alchemy and codes and we’re off on a most puzzling case. Turns out that more than the economy of the realm is threatened. A century’s old massacre pits Huguenots against Catholics in a revenge plot only the brain of Newton can piece together. This is a thoroughly fun historical thriller. Kerr excels with this one!

I just finished Maighread MacKay’s fabulous novel, Stone Cottage. I believe it falls in the category of Visionary Fiction. It is a classic ghost story, but so much more. Tragedy rocks Rebecca Wainwright’s world. Searching for a private sanctuary she finds a stone cottage that draws her back to another time. The novel explores how we construct our reality, wounding and potential healing, and how our life connections transcend time and place. I’m happy Maighread agreed to discuss her work.

I’m interested in your writing process for Stone Cottage. Did you construct the modern story with Rebecca first or did you first create Annie’s (the ghost) story?

I am a “pantser” more than a “plotter”, so I had the main characters in my mind and worked on them simultaneously. The first draft of the story was done in three sections: Rebecca’s Story, Annie’s Story and Together. When I showed it to my editor, she felt that the story really started in the third section and advised that I restructure the novel starting with where Rebecca finds Stone Cottage and meets Annie and then integrating the back story. Whew. Major rewrite, but it did work better.

What sort of research did you do for the novel? I suspect your own spirituality and/or experience came into play for the parts of the book that examine life after death. Can you share some background on this?

The research was quite extensive. Since Annie’s story is set in Whitby (Canada) and the surrounding area in the mid 1800’s, I visited our local Pioneer Village which is set in the time period. I was able to see the housing setup, clothing and utensils used at the time. The Director was kind enough to let me spend time viewing their records and correspondence from the time period. I also visited the Archives of the main library and reviewed letters, newspaper articles, family records and other important documents of the area. I also searched online for important information such as when the railroad was extended from Toronto to Whitby, and what road was used to transport goods from Port Perry to the harbor. It was fascinating. For the spiritual side, yes, a lot of the experiences of my life’s search came into play, such as the clearing of the land or house for negative energy. I also spoke with a Medium, who sees and smells ghosts and I had a past life regression session specifically for the book so that I would get the tone for that scene correctly.

Do you feel there’s a growing demand for books (like yours) that bring up questions about the nature of reality and move it more into the mainstream?

Yes. All life is energy and while at this time on our planet there is a great deal of negative energy, there is also an abundance of positive energy and new discoveries. Research in the areas of quantum physics, parallel universes, the changes in water when spoken to in a harsh or loving manner, how we are literally all connected – these and more are opening people’s eyes to the wondrous lives we live and new and exciting ways to view our existence on this planet. Even schools recognizing the benefits of meditation and incorporating it into the curriculum is moving spirituality into the mainstream. This would never have happened in my childhood. It’s very exciting. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service SE region

What would you like readers to take away from experiencing Stone Cottage?

Whether or not they agree or disagree with the principles in the story, I hope they like it. I do hope, though, that it will make the readers think, “Huh, never thought of life like that.” What I have written is not a definitive look at what life is all about, but rather, a concept that might or could happen. I hope it will help readers to reassess their paradigm of life and death, and look at other possibilities that could be at play. In my own experience, a lot of what I was taught was handed down from generation to generation and I just accepted it as truth. Perhaps it is truth for another, and that’s perfectly fine, but I needed to explore my life’s purpose from different angles to find out what my own truth was and what sat right with me. The whole concept of God, existence, birth, life, death and beyond is so much bigger and more than we’ve been taught and exploring new ideas about them is fascinating to me.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on a mystery with the working title of “Murder at Mother’s”. It is from the point of view of the deceased’s ghost (you can tell I like ghost stories.). Again, I am at the research stage and have several chapters done, but there is still quite away to go. It will have a spiritual component, but again I want the readers to enjoy the story and have that satisfying feeling you get at the end of a good read. I am an avid reader as well as a writer and enjoy nothing more than a good book.

Thanks, Maighread for visiting with us today! For more information about her work, please visit her website and social media platforms.

August 11, 2PM: I’ve drawn 4 winners for the print copies of Into the Land of Snows. Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners are: Sue S., Finally Florida, Alessandro, and Paronson. Congratulations!! I hope you’ll like the book. I will be contacting all of you to get your shipping addresses. If you see this, you can shoot me an email at: himalayaspencerellis@yahoo.com.

After Jupiter Gardens Press went belly up, I struggled with whether or not to do the self-publishing thing. Turns out, it was easier than I expected. I am excited to announce the launch of my first self-published book! I worked with the fabulous Anna Spies at EerilyFair to create a cover I truly love. Thanks, Anna! Now it’s time to share the love. I will be giving away 4 signed paperback copies of Into the Land of Snows using a random drawing (US residents only, since I have to mail them). The contest will run from today until noon Aug. 11 (next Thursday). Enter by leaving me a comment about something fun you did this summer.

About the book: Visionary Fiction

Sixteen year old Blake travels to Base Camp on Mt. Everest to spend time with his physician father. When a deadly avalanche occurs, Dad is forced to rethink things and sends Blake away. Now accompanied by a Sherpa guide, and in possession of a mysterious camera, Blake undertakes a journey that will challenge everything he believes. In the magical Himalayas, he will be forever changed by what he experiences.

“Well-written with engaging and believable characters, this story has it all: adventure, mystery, magic, and wisdom.” Naomi C. Rose

“Into the Land of Snows is a eminently readable YA novel that moves quickly and adeptly through many mystical twists and turns. A very fast and enjoyable read! I recommend it highly to YA audiences, but to adults as well.” Rea Nolan

“Into the Land of Snows takes the reader into a world so different, so beautifully challenging in its vision of life that the reader is drawn-in completely. So strong is the vision presented in this book it may even change the being within you.” Karin DeMer

She’s only fifteen. She shouldn’t have to play anesthesia games at all, never mind this often, but whatever. She tries not to waste time feeling sorry for herself. She already knows life isn’t fair. Get over it. If you’re going to survive, you have to turn it into a game you have a chance of winning, a game that makes up for lost time. A game that teaches you how to be awake even when you’re not.

This book has already garnered many positive reviews on Amazon which highlight the author’s skill with characterization, pacing, and the way tense moments are flavored with gentle humor. And I totally agree. Rea Nolan Martin has successfully woven a story around four women facing crisis. We are drawn in and caught up in their lives. Most of us will have faced some part of this story either in our own lives or in the lives of a loved one.

What I want to highlight is that this is a masterful work in the emerging genre of visionary fiction. And here the author shows her talent best. She asks us to dig deep and think about healing. How much do we rely on medical professionals? How much power do we have over our own healing? On the healing of others? The writing here is so compelling that I know Rea Nolan Martin has experienced these questions and wrestled with them in her own life. She is drawing from what she “knows”. Anyone who reads about where science is leading us will also feel a resonance to the ideas of the zero point field. Others will gravitate to the language of interconnectedness. Either way, we have to reexamine our place on earth and in the cosmos.

Few authors can take on these themes and make them accessible. This author can. Grab this one!

THE WINNERS ARE: Congratulations Dawnrigger and Linda Martin! I will be contacting you both to get your email details. Thanks to everyone who participated.

It’s almost spring and international teams will soon meet to begin the 2016 climbing season at Everest. Most of us will never be challenged by a mountain, but we can live vicariously safe at home, book in hand. For all you armchair adventurers, it’s contest time. Two free e-books of INTO THE LAND OF SNOWS will be awarded on Thursday, March 17th. Leave a comment about mountains below to enter. Contest closes 12:00 PM (MTN) on March 17th.

The blurb:

A troubled, sixteen year old Blake travels to Base Camp on Mt. Everest to spend time with his physician father. When a deadly avalanche occurs, Dad is forced to rethink things and sends Blake off the mountain. Now accompanied by a Sherpa guide, and in possession of a mysterious camera, Blake undertakes a journey which will challenge everything he believes. In the magical Himalayas, he will be forever changed by what he experiences.

This book has been on my reading list for a while. Although I’ve read books in the Eastern tradition on energy and Kundalini, I’ve never picked up a practical guide, so to speak. My background on the subject frames the rise of Kundalini energy in esoteric or spiritual terms. JJ Semple wants to get away from the notion of the spiritual and talk in terms of biology and evolution.

For him, a Kundalini awakening is essentially a biological process where consciousness expresses as an evolutionary force whose purpose is to refine and upgrade itself in a single lifetime. But it’s more than that because Semple believes the raising of consciousness can cause significant evolutionary leaps that can be passed on to subsequent generations.

Some esoteric traditions teach there is only one way to raise the serpent coiled at the base of the spine. Others outline a favored approach. This is where Semple’s book can be helpful. He outlines some of the many ways Kundalini can be triggered either intentionally or accidentally (that’s right- you can be minding your own business one minute and then yikes – what the ??). In fact, many people have had just that experience! They didn’t go looking for it, they don’t have an interest in anything spiritual, and yet it happens. Remember, Semple’s theory doesn’t require spirituality. He is talking about fundamental biology. If you are human, the life force waits ready for its opportunity.

Some of the case studies presented involve the raising of Kundalini as a result of meditation, Shaktipat (where energy is transferred from one individual to another), emotional crisis, sexual encounter, or eye gazing. Semple himself has experienced his own biological awakening and has chosen cases illustrating some of the differences and some of the similarities of what people go through. There are no advanced spiritual masters here; these are everyday people going through a life changing process. The book is immediately easy to relate to. Along the way, the reader gets a sense of how the rise of the Kundalini can be lived with and accommodated.

The book spends some time on the God versus no God arguments within society. Although Semple is an atheist, he thinks the argument gets us nowhere. He would like us to view Kundalini in terms of an energy continuum. Religion gets in the way of having this biological process seriously studied by scientists. Real work needs to be done. Real people are awakening all the time and there is a need to be able to guide them through the process.

Semple’s book is an easy read even if you know nothing about Kundalini. I hope it begins to open a dialogue among a wider audience. Highly recommended!

A cautionary note: Many spiritual traditions regard the raising of Kundalini as a dangerous endeavor. It is not viewed as being for everyone. Many have levels of initiation and recognize master teachers.